By Michael Barthelemy, The Chicago Dogs

FARGO, ND – The Chicago Dogs kept their streak of pitching dominance against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks going, cruising to a 4-1 victory.

Dogs right-handed starter Kyle Murphy registered his best start in a month with five innings pitched, allowing one run off of three hits and five walks. The White Rhino was able to navigate his way around multiple jams using a mix of fastballs and his patented knuckle-slider.

The bullpen matched Murphy’s energy. The combination of Ryan Clark, Kevin Marnon and Brian Schlitter threw four combined innings and striking out six. Outside of a bases loaded jam in the sixth, the RedHawk offense was shut down.

Just as it’s been the previous two nights, the Dogs struck first. K.C. Hobson connected on a high fastball and drove it into right center for a double. Anfernee Grier moved Hobson to third with his single and Trent Bauer capped off the sequence with his own single to score Hobson and make it 1-0.

Fargo-Moorhead duplicated the first two steps of the Dogs rally in the fourth inning with a double and single of their own, but Ben Levorsi scored off a sacrifice fly by Nick Novak.

In the fifth inning, Bauer stepped to the plate and initiated the rally this time with his single. It didn’t take long for the designated hitter to come home, because on the next pitch Connor Kopach attacked a fastball and sent it deep to the left center gap for a triple. Harrison Smith made the score 3-1 with a bloop single to center field.

Right-hander Ryan Clark relieved Murphy of his duties in the sixth and ran into trouble early. Fargo-Moorhead’s Rymer Liriano singled and Livorsi drew a 10-pitch walk to create traffic. Clark got two outs next, but another walk loaded the bases and threatened the lead. As he has all season, Clark clutched up and got Evan Alexander to pop out and end the inning. Clark ended with two shutout innings and three strikeouts.

Chicago added an insurance run in the eighth, started with a Hobson single. The first baseman advanced to second off of a passed ball and scored two pitches later off a single from Wilkerson to make the game 4-1.